Overrated
by Utopia Today
Summary: After his sudden death, Mush watches his friends as they mourn, cope, and eventually move on. Life is overrated.
1. Death

Death is nothing to fear. People have this idea that the afterlife is the End, but they're wrong. There's so much more after death that if we only knew, we'd waste our lives with good reason.

But what is life? Life is flesh, physicality, nerves and pain, senses and touch and all things mortal. Life is temporary. Life is merely a dream.

I died six days before my seventeenth birthday. None of my friends expected it, and neither did I. Around six o'clock on a Thursday night, we were sitting around in the lobby of the lodging house. I felt a sharp pain in my chest, and within a minute I was gone.

Apparently I had a heart problem.

There was no stereotypical flash of light, I didn't fly through any tunnel or pass through pearly gates. My pain merely ceased. I sat up and looked around at my friends, some of which seemed very confused and worried.

"Fellas?" I asked as I stood. But as I looked down, I saw myself lying on the floor with my eyes closed and one hand still clutching my chest.

Racetrack knelt down next to, well, me. "Mush, can you hear me?" He obviously received no answer. I think it was at that moment that I knew I was dead. "Say something, Mush!"

He stuck his index and middle fingers under my chin to the side. "What are you doing, Race?" Boots asked him, but he didn't reply.

Jack made his way to the front of the small crowd that had formed around my body. "Race, what happened?" he asked. "Is he okay?"

Poor Racetrack was the first one to say it. "Mush is dead...he ain't breathin' or movin' or nothin'." He bit his lip, but his eyes began to fill with tears anyway. "I think he really is dead."

Jack couldn't find any words. He stared down at me. "So...so that's it then, huh?" he finally choked out. "He just...just died?" Racetrack nodded.

I didn't feel very different than when I was living, except for this feeling of freedom. Cut from physical bonds, I could now do as I pleased. While my friends wept at their loss, I smiled at my great gain.

They were pitiful, though. All eyes were red and teary, their expressions full of sorrow and dismay. I went to each boy and studied him--inside as well as out. I was so busy I didn't even notice that one like me was in my presence.

"Physicality is overrated, isn't it?" she asked me. I was caught off-guard for a moment. She seemed friendly enough, though.

"It is," I replied. "Are you dead too?"

She nodded. "I was fourteen. I got pneumonia." She paused. "I don't know how long ago it was, though. I've lost track of years."

"And you lived in New York?"

"Yeah. My parents are very old now. I'm the only one who's died. It's been pretty lonely." She paused. "I'm Amelia."

"Mush." I almost held out my hand, but figured there was no point. "Do you come here a lot?"

She smiled. "Very often. You boys are fun. I just like to watch you."

I broke eye contact with Amelia and looked back at my friends. Boots had been sent for help a few moments before, and Jack was herding the boys upstairs. "Are you going to stay here for awhile?" Amelia suddenly asked me.

"I guess so," I replied. "I mean...where else can I go?"

"Wherever you want," she said. "Whenever you want. It's funny, but people think that there's Heaven and Hell, but it's just the afterlife. We can watch our lives and the lives of those we knew, and even those of strangers."

"So there's no God?"

"Sure there's God. He just doesn't separate souls like you'd think He would. Anyway, you don't want me to stay? I mean...it's hard for awhile."

I shrugged. "Stay if you'd like to. I donno how long I wanna be here," I said. She nodded and was gone.

I turned back to see that Jack was now alone with me. Freely he cried tears that no ounce of pride could stop. I felt honored that he thought so highly of me, but at the same time I didn't understand why he was so upset. I wasn't completely gone, so why did Jack act like I was?

Racetrack made his way down the stairs and stood next to Jack. "Boots back yet?" he asked quietly.

Jack shook his head. The two didn't say anything to each other until Racetrack turned to leave a few minutes later. "I'm going upstairs," he said. "I just can't...you know. The body and all of that."

"Yeah," Jack replied absently. He stood over me silently as Racetrack left him. I made my way to Jack and rested my forehead on his shoulder. I stayed like that until Boots returned. As my body was taken out of the only home I'd ever known, I realized that for the first time in my life, I wasn't hungry.

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No idea where this came from. There will be more, though. Review!


	2. Emme

I met Emme Menet just a week after the strike ended. She was a newsie too, and lived at the girls' lodging house just two blocks from the boys'. We met while standing in line at the distribution center.

"I'm Emme," she said as she held out her hand to shake.

I replied, "I'm Mush." I shook Emme's hand, and she giggled.

"Mush?" she asked. "What kind of a name is that?"

"It's a good name!" I protested. "Better than Emme. That short for Emily?"

"No it ain't." We moved forward a step or two in line. "Emme's the name my mother gave me. Spelled 'E-M-M-E' too, but it ain't 'em.' It's 'emmy.'"

I liked her just from that first conversation. From then on we sold together in the mornings and sometimes in the afternoons, too. After a month or so of knowing each other I finally worked up the nerve to kiss her, so I did.

It was short but nice. After I pulled away, the corner of Emme's mouth curled upwards into a slight smile. "What was that for?" she asked quietly.

I shrugged with embarrassment. "For you," I said. My eyes were glued to the floor.

There was silence, but only for a moment. "That was sweet," Emme said. More silence. I was mortified, but Emme took my hand in her's and forced me to look at her. "I didn't mind it, Mush."

God, she was pretty. I think she really loved me. I knew she'd be sad when she heard about what happened to me, and so did my friends. They drew sticks to decide who would have to go tell her.

Blink picked the shortest stick. "But I don't know what to say!" he protested firmly. "Race, at least come with me!"

But Racetrack wouldn't leave the lodging house. "It's all yours', Kid."

Emme was all alone in the bunkroom of the girls' lodge, except for me. She was lying face down on her bed reading that morning's newspaper.

In all the commotion of my death, I'd forgotten how much I cared about Emme. When I saw Blink enter the room, I suddenly began to dread this as much as he did.

"Hey Amelia?"

She was now with me. "Yeah Mush?"

My eyes were focused on Emme--her eyes, her smile. "Will you stay here for a little while?"

Amelia came over to me and rested her hand on my shoulder. "Sure, Mush."

"Hey Blink," Emme greeted him. "What are you doing around here?" She giggled. "You finally got a girlfriend? Who is she?"

Kid Blink couldn't help but smile. "No, Em, no girlfriend." He sat down on her bed. "I actually came to talk to you."

"To me?" Emme asked. "Well, what is it?"

Blink hesitated. "Well...y'see...something happened last night."

Amelia squeezed my shoulder. "Yeah?" asked Emme.

"It's Mush...he..." Blink bit his lip and avoided any eye contact at all with Emme. "I donno how to say this."

"What's wrong? Is Mush all right?" Blink didn't answer her. Emme put her hand on Blink's. "What happened?"

I tightly shut my eyes. Amelia was looking up at me. "She'll be all right, Mush," she told me quietly. "They always are. They never understand, but they always pull through."

I opened my eyes just as Blink found the courage to quietly tell the one who loved me, "Mush died last night, Emme."

At that moment, I watched as the poor girl's heart began to break. She said nothing, but kept her eyes on Blink to make sure he was telling the truth. Slowly she brought her hand up to her mouth as tears began to fill her eyes. "How?" she asked almost inaudibly.

"We don't know," Blink replied. "He just...it just happened. I'm sorry, Em."

"I want to go back, Amelia," I said. Emme's tears were freely running down her cheeks and onto the bed. I hated seeing her cry.

"I know, but you can't."

Just as Blink was getting up to leave, I went over to Emme and sat down. Blink spoke. "I'm gonna go, Em. I'll come back later..." Emme dismissed him with a small wave of her hand and curled up, pulling her covers over her and situating her pillow. I lied down and wrapped my arms around her.

"I love you, Emme." She couldn't hear me, but it had to be said.

Tears fell onto the pillow. "I loved you, Mush."

* * *

It's sad, I know. I don't know why I have this obsession with killing off newsies of my choice, but it just happens! Hmm...more later, I suppose.

Adri--Thanks! Updates will probably be few and far between, coz school and work are super-busy. Whateva!

Elyse--You're too kind! Keep up the reviews!

Chelsea--Hey, look! You read more than one of my stories! You might just be the coolest!


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